Zheng Juzhong did not rush to reclaim the White Emperor City, which was nearly reduced to ruins. As a precaution, Wu Shuangjiang still produced the last remaining stacks of talismans to reinforce the Purple Palace star chart. Chen Ping'an hovered in midair, assuming an unfathomably mysterious posture of man and Heaven as one, while the flying sword Qingping circled around him, protecting its master.
The handle of the Northern Dipper star chart still pointed at that deathly white skeleton, and the tip of the flying sword Northern Dipper trembled slightly.
Ning Yao rode her sword over from the tilted Heavenly Pillar and arrived beside the formation diagram.
Wu Shuangjiang asked with a smile, "The overall situation is settled. Shall we clean up the battlefield?"
Zheng Juzhong said, "Wait until Chen Ping'an gathers his spirit back into one."
Wu Shuangjiang nodded. "Right. This kid likes divvying up spoils on the spot. He especially likes counting money and taking inventory of his possessions."
They could now be considered allies who had conquered the realm together.
Wu Shuangjiang had "usurped the throne," taking Jiang She's seat as Patriarch of the School of Military. He had helped him build a new furnace and raise a new fire in the Azure Sky World, recruit troops and gather more heroic spirits among military commanders, establish an orthodox lineage that could stand toe-to-toe with the Military Strategists of Vast Heaven and Earth.
Chen Ping'an had "seized the name." Put simply, since Chen Ping'an had slain Jiang She in the formation and erased "Jiang She" from the Great Dao, he was now nominally the orthodox Great Dao lineage of the Military Strategists. This young Yin Guan was the new Patriarch of the Military Strategists who openly matched the two words "orthodox lineage."
That also meant Wu Shuangjiang would